The End of Palimony?

Palimony

Palimony is financial support paid from one unmarried cohabitant to another. It was first recognized as a cause of action in New Jersey in 1979, when our  state Supreme Court decided the seminal case of Kozlowski v. Kazlowski, 80 N.J. 378 (1979). In that case, and until recently, the courts have interpreted palimony to include a wide variety of cohabitation agreements to provide future support and division of property as valid and enforceable contracts. The courts have also been willing to find enforceable agreements whether oral or memorialized in writing.

The development of palimony in New Jersey following Kozlowski further broadened the scope of such agreements. In 2002, the court decided In the Matter of the Estate of Roccamonte, 174 N.J. 381 (2002). In that case, the court found that, “marital type relationships between unmarried persons” may reasonably include an enforceable “promise by one to support another.” The court noted that such a promise would sustain a valid claim for palimony, whether express or implied, because “parties entering this type of relationship usually do not record their understanding in specific legalese.”